Magnetically driven objects can be manipulated based on existence of an external magnetic field interacting with the magnetic field of the objects (with permanent magnets/electromagnets on the objects). Magnetic propulsion is a magnetically driven system, (also known as magnetic suspension or maglev) generally involves the wireless transferring of the force and torque by means of magnetic repulsion or attraction. Often, the object is suspended without any additional support other than one or more magnetic fields.
One implementation of the magnetic propulsion principle is a magnetically navigated robot (magnetic robot). Magnetic robots typically use magnetic fields to cause an object to move and to have the object perform mechanical functions. Also, magnetic robots may not be levitated but be manipulated and moved by pulling or repealing using an external magnetic field.
For implementations of magnetic robots in which the object is sufficiently small, it is typically not possible to attach certain types of sensors to the object. Specifically, force sensors cannot generally be attached to sufficiently small objects even though force feedback may be advantageous for controlling and actuating the magnetic robot.